This Folio post is a summary of the research activities I participated in this academic year outside my doctoral studies or research plan. All the collaborations are with other members of the NeuroADaS Lab:

• Non-invasive neuromodulation intervention on patients diagnosed with post-COVID19 syndrome at Consorci Sanitari de Terrassa (CST). Project name: “Remote intervention based on non-invasive neuromodulation in post-COVID19 syndrome. Addressing cognitive impairments and fatigue”. 
• I conducted a non-invasive neuromodulation intervention on residents of the Suances residence (Cantabria), administering two sessions per day over 10 days, with pre- and post-intervention cognitive evaluations. Additionally, I was responsible for data compilation and analysis for our research group.
• General tasks as a laboratory technician: laboratory inventory, support in laboratory doctoral research, management of laboratory spaces and materials, presentation activities of the laboratory to external individuals such as the mayor and deputy mayor as well as the new rector and vice-rectors or doctoral students, among others.
• I conducted cognitive assessments of children aged 10 to 12 from three different schools as part of the PEANUTY project by the Gasol Foundation. The assessment included the d2-R test, Stroop Test, Symbol Search, Picture Span, Digit Span and Coding subtests of the WISC-V, and Raven’s-2 test. This year, we also carried out post-evaluations for some of the children, allowing us to begin correcting pre- and post-assessments. I was responsible for compiling and analysing preliminary results for a pre-post analysis.

This academic year we started analysing the results from ALFA cohort. We develop a statistical analysis plan that included four steps: 1) Principal Component Analysis of Language measures (Proficiency, Age of acquisition and frequency of use of Catalan and Spanish); 2) K-means clustering of the PCA results to create groups based on Language profiles; 3) Analysis of the Variance (ANOVA) of sociodemographic and language measures of the groups obtained in the k-means clustering and 4) An Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) with multiple covariates was conducted to examine the effects of language profile clusters (3 levels) and the language of assessment (Catalan or Spanish), controlling for age, years of education, sex, and adjusted cognitive reserve score, on 13 neuropsychological test scores: (1) MMSE, (2) Semantic Fluency, (3) MBT Total Free Recall, (4) MBT Total Paired Recall, (5) MBT Total Delayed Paired Recall, (6) MBT Total Delayed Free Recall, (7) WAIS-IV Coding, (8) WAIS-IV Matrix Reasoning, (9) WAIS-IV Visual Puzzles, (10) WAIS-IV Digits Total Score, (11) Digits Direct Span, (12) Digits Indirect Span, and (13) Digits Sequential Span.

We are in the process of writing a manuscript based on these results that will be the first article of my thesis. In the process we intend to present this results as posters in several congress:

• FANPSE: Annual congress of neuropsychology in Spain (Madrid)
• ISB15: biannual symposium of bilingualism (San Sebastian)
• AAIC25: Most important conference of Alzheimer’s disease in the world (Toronto).
• FESN25: Annual European congress of neuropsychology (Leipzig)

The next step after publishing the article measuring the cognitive impact of bilingualism in healthy senior adults is to analyse neuroimaging results. We have structural, morphological and functional Magnetic Resonance Image data of a subsample of the ALFA cohort (ALFA+) already pre-processed and structured ready for the analysis. We will first study each neuroimaging result separately and then integrate the three methodologies using a Multilayer Network Analysis based on Casas-Roma et al., (2022)

Assistance to the Family-Centred Early Intervention for Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing congress.

FCEI International is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary, worldwide network of parents, families, professionals and researchers, both Deaf and hard of hearing and typical hearing, who are engaged in promoting and improving evidence-informed practice and research in Family Centered Early Intervention.

The congress participation provided an excellent opportunity to connect with other researchers.

Dates: 14-17 May 2024

Assistance to the IASCL XVIth International Congress for the Study of Child Language.

The presence on the congress allow me to create new national and international networks on research on the field. Also, I have  learned about the most up-to-date research that will allow me to introduce new methodologies in my thesis.

Dates: 14-20 July 2024

I attended an online symposium from the Ag Bell Association. Mission of this association is to ensure that people with hearing disabilities can listen and speak, which they carry out through various means, one of them being the annual conferences. Since 2020, they have held the conferences virtually, thus tripling attendance from 350-400 people in person to 900-1100 virtually, from over 35 different countries, with representation from students, clinical professionals, and researchers. This event brings together hundreds of clinical professionals and researchers in the field of hearing disabilities, speech therapists, psychologists, ENT specialists, bioengineers, and more. Attending the conference offers both educational value and networking opportunities with other research groups in the same field.

I have presented a talk of 30 minutes of duration focused on how families and others professionals impact cognitive and language development in deaf and hard of hearing children. Also, I have participated in a round table of professionals in deaf and hard of hearing development.

Date: 14 – 16 June 2024

Date: June 13-16, 2024

Place: Helsinki, Finland

Reflection on the activity: Presented a poster titled “Background Music on Attentional Networks in Parkinson’s Disease Patients: Preliminary Results.” This experience provided the opportunity to share research findings with an international audience and gather feedback from experts in the field of neuroscience and music.

Oral Presentation on the benefits of working with Tenebrio molitor flour for future innovation in more sustainable proteins to Juan Sebastián Echeverry – R&D Director – Frisby S.A. BIC.  Colombia

Date: 16/9/24

Online.

https://frisby.com.co/blog